


Forced Melody

by LetoaSai



Series: Cliché's [8]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Music Lessons, Musician Sora, Prince Riku, Riku isn't giving Sora up, Riku made a friend, Royalty, moody Riku, music is healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23747908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetoaSai/pseuds/LetoaSai
Summary: Prince Riku was training to rule his kingdom. He didn't have time for music lessons. He might have time for his music teacher.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Cliché's [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572022
Comments: 21
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: i do not own Kingdom Hearts 
> 
> Cliche prompt: Royalty/tutor

Riku was quietly furious. Quietly, stoically. His face had fallen into it’s familiar blank mask that remained uncracked. No one could tell what he was really thinking though some might take a guess. Most thought he was probably always angry. 

Maybe he was. 

At seventeen years old, he knew what he was about. He knew his limits. He knew his strengths and weaknesses. He knew what he could and could not tolerate and he just couldn’t tolerate this. He was hanging on by strings to not go and throw a tantrum unbecoming of his age and status. 

Of all the stupid.. _Music lessons._

His parents had gone mad. They must have, it was the only explanation. He was a prince, he didn’t have time for something so frivolous. Music lessons were for children who had nothing better to do with their time. Riku didn’t just have time for pointless shit like that. 

The chunks of his day that weren’t spent in royal lessons, preparing him to be king, were spent with either the royal knights or guards. His form was top notch and he’d been informed more than once that had his duties not laid elsewhere he would have become a skilled and revered knight. He’d honed his swordsmanship and his archery wasn’t half bad either. Had being a true knight been an option...

Some days it sounded better than playing nice with nobles and rich oafs who thought the best way to gain his favor was to throw their daughters at him. If there was one thing he couldn’t stand it was his clingy peers that just wanted to be a princess. No one cared about him. 

Honestly, he had enough to do and enough to prepare for. The only reason his parents cared about these lessons at all was because one of their ‘dear’ friends was boasting about their oldest child, the pianist. So lovely and musical. 

Riku could do that couldn’t he!? 

Fuck, they were so easily manipulated. He couldn’t stand it. To be so skilled meant they’d started as a child and kept up with it. Practiced daily and had no time for anything else. 

Riku didn’t have luxuries like that. Didn’t they understand? No, of course they didn’t. They’d grown complacent and were used to things just being done when they snapped their fingers, never mind how it was managed. 

God, he was livid. He’d had to endure his father’s stern disappointed look and his mother's dramatic crocodile tears when he’d refused. They put on such a production of guilt that he’d finally caved. 

Running away to be a knight had never felt so damn appealing. 

Worse, was the pair of them would forget about the whole idea of music lessons in a week or two and the only one that would be put out by the entire affair would be Riku. Only his time wasted. Like always. 

He stormed through the palace corridors and perhaps he did look a touch more intimidating than usual if the servants ducking out of his way was any indication. 

His music teacher had been sent to the fourth room of Riku’s suit. It was the room that had been his classroom when he was younger. Apparently that made it a suitable spot for private music lessons. 

The last thing he wanted was to be stuck in that room again with some old man going on and on about music theory before any of the music actually began, or some stern faced woman with a long ruler ready to smack him at every minor mistake.

His parents were going to sorely regret this when he bowed out of the next formal dinner to practice whatever ridiculous instrument they’d signed him up for. 

When Riku got to his suit of rooms the guards standing outside bowed as he entered his personal corridor. God knew they would be snickering when the sound of his horrid attempts at music reached their ears. 

Riku threw the doors open to his room, striding in. It was his space after all, but he halted almost immediately when he saw a boy on his balcony through the glass doors, cheek pressed to his violin. The sounds were carried away on the wind, but he was enchanting to look at all the same. 

He was so young, younger than Riku himself, at least he assumed. His attire was middle class and he was...cute. He was lost in the song he was playing while dangerously straddling the railing to the balcony. The drop would have killed him. 

Riku opened the glass door carefully and the full range of the music finally hit him. It was joyful, but he didn’t know what else. It was like listening to a story. He wanted to listen longer and see where it went but bright blue eyes opened and peered at him. 

“Highness!” He greeted with the brightest smile Riku had ever seen. No one greeted him with a smile like that. He was too cold to warrant it. 

“You’re the tutor then…” 

“Yes,” He grinned, spinning around dangerously and hopping back onto the safety of the balcony. “My name is Sora, Highness. Pleased to meet you.” He made a sweeping bow but laughed like it was part of the game. 

He was blinding. 

“Look,” Riku began. “I understand that you were hired for this but-” 

“But you couldn’t give a flip about music, am i right?” Sora snorted. “Yeah, i figured that out for myself.” 

“Oh?” Riku asked slowly, eyeing him. What did this guy know?

He nodded and set his violin down on the table. “Well sure. I got some official looking men coming to my music store, inquiring about a teacher. Two hours later i’m in the royal palace, in a very large suite with a bunch of scary looking guards outside. I’m not very smart but this didn’t take a lot to put together.” 

Riku blinked. His parents had all but had this poor guy kidnapped. “I am….I apologize. They always go too far…” 

Sora just laughed. “Don’t worry about it, your Highness. I’m not upset. I got to see a bunch of cool things today. Can’t complain about that. I thought maybe i would give a lesson you know but well, you’re the prince.” 

“So?” Riku frowned faintly. 

“So?” Sora’s look rapidly swapped to confusion. “So you’re the prince. You battle thieves and run around with knights. What would you want with violin lessons?” 

“I…” Riku faltered. He’d just been silently fuming about that very thing, but suddenly the notion that Sora thought he would refuse to learn felt like a challenge. “You’re not wrong, but only because i am extremely busy. The song you were playing was very nice though. I’ve never heard it.” 

Sora’s smile returned. “I should hope not, i wrote it.” 

“Wrote it?” Riku asked. Right, someone had to compose these things. “It was incredible, but i’m not sure if the violin is my instrument.” He’d break the damn thing.

“Well, if you’re considering learning an instrument, something to play from time to time.” Sora seemed to consider it. “We can talk about what you might like. What would be annoying and so on. If you’re interested?” 

Riku had never been brought down but huge blue eyes before but… “Okay…” 

Sora perked up instantly, “Great. I can play quite a few instruments adequately. Certainly enough to give you beginner lessons at least. The violin is my expertise but i dabble...so..." He smiled, realizing he was babbling. “May i ask, Highness, what spurred on the sudden desire for lessons?” 

“Pride.” Riku sighed, nodding his head for Sora to follow him back into his suit. There were chairs around a little coffee table that they could both settle in. “Someone else knew how so now i must too.” He rolled his eyes and stopped himself from complaining about the King and Queen to an outsider. 

“Oh.” Sora hummed, maybe hearing more than Riku wanted him to. “Any instrument you have any attachment to?” 

“Not particularly.” Riku rested his chin on his palm and sighed. He almost felt bad for Sora. This wasn’t his fault but he was probably getting paid handsomely. “Nothing complicated.” 

“Kay, well maybe we’ll just skip wind instruments.” Sora mumbled more to himself. “Probably too much to keep track of where your fingers should be, while learning the notes you’re playing and how you're breathing when you’re only partially interested.” 

That sounded sensible. 

“What about yours?” Riku gestured to the violin Sora had remembered to grab on the way in. He still felt like he'd break it but maybe it was simple enough to learn.

“The violin? I wouldn’t call it easy but it’s fun. It can be intimidating.” 

Riku frowned. “Can it?” 

Sora smiled, “Well sure. If you’re playing the piano and miss a key, only someone with an ear for music really notices. If you mess up bad enough that it is noticeable well, it’s just a tone change isn’t it? Not so bad." He picked up his violin. “Beginners find the violin intimidating because…” He ran his bow against the strings poorly and it made an awful screech. 

Riku winced and suddenly agreed with Sora. A few seconds later the screeching smoothed out into a gentle song. 

“Just takes practice.” Sora smiled. “You might like a string instrument. Maybe a mandolin or guitar. I can bring them with me whenever our next lesson is scheduled." 

“Could.” Riku said, watching Sora pluck at the strings without the bow. For some reason it was hypnotic to watch. Every flick of his fingers created a sound. It was ethereal and it loosened up the pain in his head. “Or i could just listen to you play.” 

Sora laughed and Riku couldn’t help but stupidly think that sounded musical too. Sora was different. Already they were having a full conversation together where most people couldn't even meet his eye until the third time they met.

“I don’t know if that’s how this is supposed to work.” Sora admitted with a smile. “Don’t they check to see if you’re learning anything?” 

“With as reluctant as i was to learn, they probably won’t be surprised when i’m not very good.” Riku chuckled. “I like listening to you play though. I'd like to hear more.” 

“Oh c’mon, you gotta at least learn scales.” Sora laughed but he’d evidently heard Riku’s request and put his bow back to the strings to play a new song. “I wrote this one too.” 

Riku smiled faintly, listening as the song began. Sora was easy to talk to, easy to be around. If he’d had more teachers like him, his lessons wouldn’t have been the chore they were. Maybe he’d keep up the pretenses of lessons for a little while longer than he thought. 

He liked Sora's melody almost as much as he liked his smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me... going back and finishing all my incomplete things... ^^

There was something oddly thrilling about going completely unnoticed. Riku had never been unnoticed in his entire life. Being a prince meant he was constantly the center of attention whether he wanted to be or not. He couldn’t exactly recall a grand occasion where he did wish to be noticed. It's just what it was. The stares, the attention, the music playing unnecessarily during his entrance at parties...

More often than not all he wished for was a quiet moment alone with his thoughts but those were far and few between. 

Inside the castle walls he was Riku Caspian James Rainier, prince and heir to Scala ad Caelum. His life was micromanaged and his entire childhood had been more or less lesson after lesson that would one day benefit him to ruling a kingdom. 

His only ‘free’ time had been when he’d come of age and had finally been allowed to train as a knight. It wasn’t required, but he’d thirsted for the change. He had been only thirteen when he’d started his duties as a squire. It was a touch early but he’d had so many other duties that he had been granted permission. 

He was not spoiled, or even offered special treatment. He was the same as all the other squires during those hours of the day and he’d thrived. He’d been a quick study his entire life and by fifteen had earned far more freedoms than most. He would never get to become a full fledged knight, his birthright wouldn’t allow it, but he’d trained hard regardless. He’d been honored for the feats he had accomplished and strangely enough, the guards honoring him had felt more fulfilling than the novel words of his parents or peers. 

Knights looked at him with faith and competence and that had him all the more willing to someday be a decent king. 

He loved his parents, he did, but he did not understand how two people who had gone through the same training he had were so utterly easy to manipulate. When it came to treaties and matters of their nation, they were untouchable. But when Lady Fallow offered his mother a backhanded compliment she fell apart completely. When Duke Dunhan implied that his son had accomplished something Riku had not, his father winced. 

Their poker faces were dreadful. 

The court had discovered quickly he was not so easily pushed around. Riku was perhaps petty, but he enjoyed watching their faces crumpled when he indifferently dismissed them, refusing to play into their mean court games. 

He was either the ‘cold prince’ or the ‘almost knight’, but he was always known. To not be known… 

Riku had managed to slip away as he could maybe once a week or so. Getting out of the palace courtyards would have been tricky had he not known so many guards that would conveniently look the other way when Riku wandered passed. He’d have to send them a bottle of something later. 

Even in the city proper he had to be cautious. It only took one person to recognize him for everything to go to shit, but recently he’d found a few quieter streets to use as shortcuts and it wasn’t long after that before he was in a more homely part of town. No poor by any means, but there were few, if any noble lines stretching out this far. 

Things seemed more peaceful, and Riku liked to think it was one of the best districts in the entire city. Was he biased? Certainly. The headache that had been plaguing him all morning lessened a touch.

One of the best parts was the fact that no one recognized him here. In plain clothes and his hair falling down loose at his shoulders he was just as normal as the next man. No one suspected the crown prince roaming around. 

He’d never been unknown before and since his first trip here months ago, he’d yearned for it more and more. 

The bell chimed to the music shop as he entered and he was assaulted with the soft smells of wood and lavender. He had no idea why the little music shop smelled that way but he didn’t care either. It was nostalgic and comforting.

The walls were lined with carefully crafted instruments and all the little attachments were set about the shop. Things he never realized must be sold. Sheet music. Strings for instruments. Cleaning kits. 

Truly, more went into playing an instrument than he’d ever realized growing up. 

“Afternoon, Riku.” Ventus greeted. He looked up from the counter where he was studying his own music sheets. 

It had taken weeks for Riku to talk Sora’s older brother Ventus, to use his name rather than ‘highness’. There was no way he could enjoy his day off from his duties if he was outed as a royal. 

“Hello Ventus.” Riku managed a smile. “Might my favorite teacher be about?” 

Ventus chuckled softly. “He’s giving a lesson but,” He paused to check the time. “He should be finished in about ten minutes or so.” 

Riku nodded, that wasn’t an awfully long time really. “I’ll browse and keep myself out of the way.” 

“You’re welcome to go upstairs if you like.” Ventus offered. 

Riku nodded once but stayed in the shop area. Sora lived about the shop with Ventus and his sister and two other brothers lived next door. All five of them gave music lessons and from what Riku had heard, all five were incredibly talented. 

Going up into their living space felt rude. He valued his own space too much to barge into someone else’s. Instead he wandered the shop as he had many times before. It was a world he’d known nothing about before Sora. Frankly, he still knew very little about it and wasn’t particularly musically inclined. However, there were few things he loved as much as listening to Sora play. 

It soothed something in him he didn’t realize needed to be calmed. He’d carried tension around with him everywhere he went before Sora. 

Music had just been a background noise for him growing up. Already present in some way but easily ignorable. Riku had never given much thought to who was playing the music, how well they’d been playing or how long they’d been practicing. It was it’s own craft and he was coming to appreciate it. 

His parents had dragged Sora to the palace to give him lessons on a selfish whim and then promptly forgot all about it, just as Riku had suspected. He’d anticipated being angry about it for a long time, but instead...he’d come out of the mess with a friend. 

Riku glanced up when a side door opened. A young lady, perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old came out with a violin case clutched in her hand. She waved with a smile as she skipped out, evidently pleased with the way her lesson had gone but Riku could relate. Spending time with Sora put him in a good mood too. 

A minute later Sora emerged, stretching and looking… Riku huffed softly. He’d get stuck down a repetitive rabbit hole if he got started on how Sora was looking. 

Sora moved to greet his brother but Ventus just nodded in Riku’s direction. When Sora turned, a smile lit up his face. “Riku!” 

“Hey.” Riku smiled a little, setting down the mandolin he’d been playing with. 

Sora’s smile faltered a little. “You got a headache?” 

“Not a bad one.” Riku said, not bringing himself to complain to Sora. 

“So it’s bad.” Sora said instead, turning back to his lesson room to grab his violin before reappearing. “C’mon.” 

“I’m really okay.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Sora said, lacing his fingers with Riku’s and tugging him along upstairs. “Ven, you good?” 

“Yep, you two go.” Ventus waved them off, penning more notes down as he hummed. 

It was all Sora needed to hear while pulling Riku up to their living quarters. “Did you have another one of those long meetings this morning?” 

“Yeah,” Riku said dryly. He hardly remembered anymore when he’d begun whining to Sora about his daily duties and tasks. He hated to _complain_ but Sora promised him the venting was healthy. 

Riku had certainly been a lot happier the last several months not bottling everything up. 

Sora dropped onto a sofa and pulled Riku along with him. “Your parents still trying to find you a princess?” 

“Mm..” Riku grunted unhappily. 

“You knew it was coming.” Sora said softly. Sora had been surprised that Riku hadn’t been promised to some princess as a child. 

“It’s not going to happen.” Riku shrugged, feeling that tension headache in his temples grow. It was pain Sora always soothed. 

“Isn’t it?” 

“You know it isn’t.” Riku muttered, reaching out to card his fingers through Sora’s hair. “You know why?” 

Sora sighed softly and inched closer. “I was never under any… grand illusions, Riku. I know you have to get married. You have to have a baby. You’re going to be king.” 

“I’ll get married when i want to.” Riku muttered, tilting Sora’s head closer to brush a kiss against his mouth. “There are other ways to find an heir and i’ll still be king. What are they going to do? Dismiss me?” 

Sora frowned, worry pinching at his mouth. “I dunno how all your fancy stuff works, Riku. You can’t refuse.” 

“They can’t refuse my demands either. I’ve done everything, Sora. _Everything_. I’ll manage on my own if i have to.” 

“You are stubborn and unbending.” Sora chuckled quietly. 

Riku snorted and pulled Sora into a deeper kiss. Originally he thought it might have been crass to seduce his music teacher but there hadn’t really been many music lessons anyway. 

“I was raised to stand firm, take pride in my position, and fight for what i want.” Riku muttered with a smile. “That’s all i’m doing.” 

“No,” Sora laughed softly. “You’re being a brat.” 

“All the same thing.” Riku shrugged. “It’s my parents fault anyway for signing me up for music lessons.” 

“Which you never actually took.” Sora rolled his eyes. “Think of the business we’d have if the crown prince had bothered to learn his scales.” 

Riku’s whole look warmed. “I was too busy falling in love with my music teacher.” 

Sora flustered instantly. “I was the one overwhelmed in the freaking castle. Having to teach a far too pretty prince. I was probably lucky you didn’t want to learn anything.” 

“I learned plenty.” Riku disagreed, bumping his nose against Sora’s. “I’ll figure it out somehow. How to make us work, i mean.” 

“No one is going to let the crown prince be with a peasant music teacher.” Sora muttered. 

“Once i’m king, they won’t have a choice.” Riku muttered, cupping Sora’s chin again. “Is that okay with you?” 

There was pink to Sora’s cheeks but he smiled warmly. “Yeah, it’s okay with me.” 

Riku breathed out a relieved sigh and slumped against Sora. He’d never be a knight. He’d never have certain freedoms. His birth wouldn’t allow it. 

Sora however, was one thing he was not going to sacrifice. 

“Lay your head down and i’ll play.” Sora said. “Let’s see if we can’t chase that headache away.” 

Riku groaned. “Which might be the dirtiest thing you’ve ever said to me.” He sprawled out against Sora’s lap, his face already pressed against Sora’s stomach. 

“Oh shut up,” Sora laughed, waiting until they were both settled again before picking up his violin. He started right in on a lovely, soft song. One of Riku’s absolute favorites because he knew that Sora had written it for him. For them. 

It was their song and more than once, Riku had caught himself humming it throughout his day. Sora was maybe halfway through before he felt the pain in his head ease. It was like magic, Sora was his magic. 

“What time do you have to be back?” Sora asked quietly while he continued playing. 

“Never…” Riku muttered. 

“Mhmm,” Sora huffed fondly. “And when you inevitably fall asleep, what time shall i wake you?” 

“Hour, wanna take you to dinner.” Riku muttered, his eyes did feel heavy. 

Sora wiggled, delighted with the idea. “Okay.” 

He started the same song over again, this beautifully nostalgic song. Sora really was his Dearly Beloved. 

It put him to sleep every time but Sora being his personal pillow was always a major factor there too. He was never sacrificing Sora.

**Author's Note:**

> ...I know very little about music


End file.
